MIT'16 EA Tube goes to Near Space!

[68mics]

Brilliant!

[USFHonorsThesis]

Nice! I hope you get in to MIT.

[nedvideo]

i could do that with my iphone

[pingucatninja]

congrats! this is such an awesome idea. Also happy to see kids with an interest in ham radio.

[geoholt3]

You guys are awesome! The video is well made too, thanks for sharing!

[ductileironbagpiper]

Science and amateur radio have a bright future in this YL. Most excellent AK4JG, and best wishes at MIT.

[heroineworshipper]

Only 200,000 more ft to go.

[WB8ELK]

Well done and nicely edited. This marks the 25th anniversary of the first amateur radio high altitude balloon to the edge of Space. I launched that flight on August 15th, 1987 with film camera, TV transmitter with live video and a 2m FM beacon. This was before cell phones and GPS. We found it the hard way using DF. I still fly about 20 flights a year here in Huntsville, AL. It is great to see students sending up balloons with the latest in technology. Keep up the amazing work. Bill Brown WB8ELK

[173sofia]

THAT IS AWSOME!



[strmridr1959]

Well done young lady, and congratulations for getting into MIT!

[juang43]

That's is so cool hope to see more of ur videos 👍🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🎦☀🌙

[omaigad11]

wheres the flat erath society trolls?

[imrehg]

Great job, it looks amazing! :D Can't wait to see what you'll hack next!

[cloudkap]

sooooooo cooool! 

[kalenen]

What if you strap a rocket to such a balloon and send it to to space. before it pops activate the rocket and see how far it can go. and ofc have a camera on it!

[ImanProject]

Awesome work indeed! By the way, the lights at 6:10 are camera artifacts allowed to have an aesthetic effect. Also, if I am correct, the curvature of the Earth is too exaggerated for a 91000 feet altitude (==27km). Is it due to the "dome" type camera used for the video?

[cloudkap]

@ImanProject You are right. GoPro cameras use a very wide-angle lens, even close to a 'fish-eye' lens effect, so any perspective lines/angles near the edges of the frame of view will be curved. Watch for when the horizon is in the center of the frame of view, it flattens out considerably.

[ImanProject]

@cloudkap That was a good observation. Thanks a lot :) I watched a river-rafting videos from New Zealand using GoPro cameras, it truly is a wide-lens effect.

[PaipoTed]

Great hack, YL

73

[thaguf]

Great job!



[MaitriTV]

Congratulations, dear. I'm a 30-something-year-old nerd and I want to be you when I grow up!

[alanspicertelecom]

Congrats on a successful launch and recovery ... I really enjoyed this.

[TheSwashbucklr]

Congrats! MIT is an awesome school.

[Azurite22]

You're going to do great things.

[dmfalk]

Congratulations, kiddo- Now you get to earn your MIT ticket along with your ham ticket, and go on to even grander adventures! :)

d.m.f.

[achaziel]

6:00 Awesome, I can see my house from here!

[Sh0wBiZz139]

This is amazing !

[viicISrotcib]

Simply fantastic! I must admit to be jealous of you.

Go out there and make the world a better place through knowledge and science!

[Enconclock]

Goddammit, now I only have three years to build a rocket to top this thing with...

[hathejoker]

Congrats

[yavimaya123]

YOU ARE MY FAVORITE FROSH EVER.

Welcome to MIT. You're not going to college, you're coming home <3.

[Vylvan]

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA­AAACE

[randomdude954]

Is that a bird at 6:24? Sure looked like it was flapping its wings...

[mikek21216]

@randomdude954

has to be a plane

[startaco80]

@randomdude954 @mikek21216 It's what's left of the balloon after it popped, before it got wrapped around the cylinder.

[nilssonisabella]

Cool dad.

[FourSeasonsHD]

There seemed to be some rather heavy and persistent contrails when you launched the experiment. Perhaps you could try to find out what those contrails are made of. Some sort of chromatography could reveal the substance that lingers in the air. 

[ThomasWadeFraser]

Is it weird that as an 18 year old nerd I find this girl's ability to get her MIT acceptance letter into near space really sexy? Is that sexy to anyone else? Maybe I'm weird.

Either way, great achievement! And I hope you're ready for a lot of Portal 2 references.

[ThomasWadeFraser]

"We do what we must because we can"

*salute*

[Tuberuser187]

That was cool but a rocket would have been cooler.

[moralexluis87]

how much did it cost the whole project?

[dop35ope]

What are those lights at 6:10?

[ArchOfWinter]

Sweet!

Can you post the entire length of video of the fall? It be awesome to watch if you have it.

[MrWillydiaz761]

nice work

[g0dsgreen]

Awesome!

[macNcheeseFTW]

ok no need to show off....

[hd92122]

I think she was inspired by the Canadian lego man that was sent to space.

[Denamic]

That's one accurate prediction!

You must be a prophet!

Can you see my future?

[HunterMarioWorld]

Then Space core and Wheatly show up...

[TechBearSeattle]

I rather wish you had not used a fish-eye lens, but otherwise, excellent video!

[theguyspeeksenglish]

Great guys! You make in a way to let it fall in the tree and not break the camera. Awesome!

[ZerzertheMusicEater]

Amazing work. :) Good luck at MIT!

[PaulB5362]

Well done on the project, a vicarious pleasure for me. Enjoy your time at MIT.

[pauligdork]

3 people don't get what all the fuss is about. Must be from NASA.

[danarthes]

What is flying on timeline 6:25? Is that a plane?

[angelcar22]

Have fun with Unified! ;)

[jtslocum]

Well done! Congratulations on getting into MIT, you're really going to love it here. This video has already been posted on several Facebook walls, so way to represent :)

[angelcar22]

A '16 for Course 16, all the way.  Good going, Erin!

[virtualErin]

@angelcar22 Aw... sorry to disappoint, but I'll probably actually be going into Course 6-2... typical, right? lol :P

[angelcar22]

@virtualErin

Noooo! Terrible!! I'm just joking.

But I admit 6-2 probably has more avenues to go along after you graduate, especially these days.

I considered 6-2 for a while; it was my second choice. But I liked airplanes too much!

Work hard, but don't forget to have fun. Those were 4 of the best years of my life. I can't say enough good things about that place. I'm sure you'll love it.

[virtualErin]

@angelcar22 Thanks! (:

[thewaitingape]

I know nothing about HAM radio transmission.Is that how you calculated the altitude? If not how did you get the ninety-one thousand feet number?

[virtualErin]

@thewaitingape APRS transmissions can actually include altitudes, but our transmitter actually stopped trasmitting its altitude partway up, so we had to calculate the ascent rate from the first few packets we got (it's pretty consistent), find the time of burst from the video, and do the math to find the estimated burst altitude.

[maieryosef]

Great use of APRS! Are you planning on participating in W1MX and W1XM?

[virtualErin]

@maieryosef indeed :D

[TheElixir1]

@anthonymongo jealous much?

[JJdoglegg]

@anthonymongo it's not a rocket and you're the cliche of feeble minded YouTube commenter.

[anthonymongo]

Girl gets accepted into MIT and builds a rocket what a cliche.

[Elizabethhh543]

This is so sick.

[geiswood1]

Great experiment and video. Have you submitted this to the folks at GoPro yet?

[virtualErin]

@geiswood1 I didn't know I could. That's a good idea... I'll see if I can. (:

[gamegoof]

@virtualErin Your smiley is backwards! We must stop this trend! btw good luck with school, great job!!!

[virtualErin]

@gamegoof lol aw but I like my backwards smileys. (: thanks.

[jonolynchful]

@virtualErin I agree, GoPro will love it. They have tons of videos on Vimeo. Nice job and good luck in Boston!

[kingturkey2]

Let's hope there's a cooking class at MIT

[gof22]

Just remember not to accept any jobs from Black Mesa or open anything from someone named Cave Johnson.

[wowthatsstrange]

@gof22 Speak for yourself.

[apoco]

@gof22 And if you do, remember to send in your letter of resignation if you hear anything about a project named GlaDOS or see a Man with a Goatee and glasses or one in a simple blue suit carrying a briefcase.

[timpedersen]

2 people are jelly

[RAWRAWRWAR]

If I make a bigger model of this and launch from my condo's patio.

[whatthelable]

What did you use for cutdown? Excellent landing btw.

[virtualErin]

@whatthelable The Helium in the balloon expands so much that it bursts, and essentially cuts itself down. In this flight, that is what happened. However, in some more complex flights I've participated in, we've used a powered nichrome wire (like what's in a toaster) wrapped around the string above the parachute to burn through and cut it down.

[Scaryghillies2]

Can you see ISS from there?

[virtualErin]

@Scaryghillies2 Haha no, not quite. Not nearly, actually. The ISS is over ten times higher than that balloon went.

[Scaryghillies2]

@virtualErin Thanks, just wondering?

[whatthelable]

What trackers did you use? Tiny Trak4?

[virtualErin]

@whatthelable OpenTracker+ kit and a borrowed tracker that wasn't a TinyTrak, but used the TinyTrak3 configuration software...

[virtualErin]

@whatthelable the OT+ is what I'm soldering in the beginning.

[whatthelable]

@virtualErin I'm building a tracker from scratch for a class (similar to MicroTrak300). Thanks, I'll check out Open Tracker+.

[mypetdogismyfather]

If she is so smart, explain the Comic Sans use...

[virtualErin]

@mypetdogismyfather ouch. Harsh false accusation. That's definitely not Comic Sans. It's Segoe Print.

[KevinYinVideo]

Very nice!



[SanguisDiabolus]

Engineers are crazy people. I envy them.

[TehJoenas]

Very cool project, and fun to watch. One question: did you have to get clearance from any type of air traffic enforcement to do this? I'm just wondering because this is relatively close to one of the busiest airports in the nation (I'm from Atlanta myself). Also, congrats on MIT!

[virtualErin]

@TehJoenas Nope, it wasn't close enough to Atlanta or Fort Benning airspace to need approval. Sometimes we send out a Notice to Airmen when we launch, but it's optional as long as we comply with certain weight and density regulations (no payload over 12 lbs., no rope rated over 50 lbs., etc.)

[saltyninja]

what a balloon, what a camera, what a view, what a kid!!!

[boiledhead]

Your flight went great, where did you get your parachute and how heavy was the rig you sent up? the decent was really nice and smooth! Congratulations!!

[virtualErin]

@boiledhead I borrowed the parachute, but the person I borrowed it from said he got it from the-rocketman [dot] com. The payload was just under 3 lbs. when we launched it.

[xDROGAMERSx]

good work, keep it up we need smart minds like yourself!

[twocatsandcounting]

Well done.

[LogicalUnitZero]

Congrats on the acceptance as well as the nifty balloon project. I use quite a few OpenTrackers to track rescue vehicles during special events, but there's nothing like seeing a beacon with an altitude > 30,000ft. Do you have a KML file of the trajectory posted anywhere?

-KC0TFB

[virtualErin]

@LogicalUnitZero I have one saved to my hard drive, but not posted online anywhere...

[LinusSuperstar]

I have seen the plane at 6.24. :)

[virtualErin]

@LinusSuperstar It's not a plane, it's a piece of the shredded balloon after it burst. We call them "balloon shards"

[anchoritehat]

You GOOOOOO Girl!!!!!!!! Congrats

[truefictions]

Cool video. Why did you cut it at +- 6:43?

The entire trip down would have been nice to watch..

[virtualErin]

@truefictions well, the entire trip down would have been over 45 minutes to watch, and that would have taken hours to upload... and people would get bored.

[truefictions]

@virtualErin

I didn't realize that. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

It must be great content, maybe you could consider uploading it anyway.

I am sure that people who live in that area will love to see their neighborhood from above.

Good luck with your work.

[31709man]

Congrats Erin ! Great job, great video as well. All this in our backyard almost and didnt know it was happening... 73, Jim K4VBH -Americus, GA

[kalimul]

Yo yo yo, next time do it at night. I wanna see city lights from space. Well near space that is.

[virtualErin]

@kalimul I've been thinking I might do that eventually. It'd be pretty cool. We'll see. :D

[Spikeyfiggin]

Exceedingly cool! All the fun of flying to (and falling from) the edge of Earth's atmosphere, but with the heat and air of my living room. Good luck in your future endeavors; the private sector is the future of space exploration... even for high altitude weather balloons!

@kalimul Might I suggest /watch?v=ls9yJTphLxg ?

[virtualErin]

@8lig "Near space is the region of Earth's atmosphere that lies between 65,000 and 325,000–350,000 feet (20 to 100 km) above sea level, encompassing the stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere." - Wikipedia, "Near space"

[Tenocticatl]

@virtualErin 'Too thin to breath, too thick to maintain orbit'?

[SEL9000]

Good job, Erin. Keep on the good work!

[Savorettii]

at the same time we are calculating 2+4 and gettinh happy when we find the result over here...

[530nm330Hz]

Congratulations! You're going to fit in just fine... :-)

- AMG Course VIII '91

[virtualErin]

@530nm330Hz Thanks! :D I'm going for Course VI-2.

[Puuloa808]

It is good to see that the U.S. space program is still going strong.

But really, Well done!

[rainer3j]

Would you talk a little about what was used for the the transmitters and APRS setup? It looks like the OpenTracker kit from the video, but I can't tell.

[virtualErin]

@rainer3j right, my primary tracker was an OpenTracker+ kit from ArgentData with a Garmin ETrex Legend GPS and a Baofeng UV-3R HT. The secondary transmitter was a little self-contained Altoids tin tracker (with radio and TNC) and a little GPS patch that I borrowed from a friend. Not sure what brand it was, but it used the Byonics TinyTrak3 configuration software. In the car, we had a Kenwood TM-V7A and Garmin nuvi 260W connected to a netbook running GPSGate, AGW Packet Engine, and APRSPoint.

[virtualErin]

@rainer3j The radio was connected to the netbook via a SignaLink USB sound card interface. Also, the antennas on the balloon payload were both custom-made dipoles - one was mounted in a C shape on an embroidery/cross-stitching hoop, as you can see in the video, and the other was attached to a flat wooden carpenter's pencil and mounted vertically. (The vertical was way less effective than the C from the null zone underneath the balloon during the chase)

[j7gy8b]

You're hired.

[TheStacheLife]

Congrats on being smarter than me and still not old enough to vote.

[sudoLinux666]

Very nice!

I'm doing a project now, called HALONSC. Look it up one day.

And MIT '16? Haha, very nice.

Prospective '17er. ;)

Cheers,

KK4ENW(Nikos)

[virtualErin]

@sudoLinux666 Your HALONSC project looks really cool! It's great to see other people who share a passion for high-altitude ballooning. Good luck next year applying to MIT! (: I hope to meet you there someday.

[KayFiveDubyaDubya]

Excellent, and congrats! Can't wait to see your next project!

[inukun329]

Glad I got to help during the launch and chase! Definitely exciting

K4SAE

[amimichael]

Tolles Video, aber jetzt ist mir Übel.

[Exciteduser]

Outstanding project, great video, and super editing. Very impressive! 73 Chuck KK4DUZ

[virtualErin]

Thanks everyone! (:

--Erin/AK4JG

[VictoreCelia]

Very good job. And the camara take fantastic images from the space.

Super progect...

Super video.

thanks from from Portugal CT1JRZ

[KI4OZG]

Fantastic, amateur radio & high-altitude ballooning are bot great hobbies and they work so well together! I have shared this video on my Facebook and Twitter account.

[bkrgi]

A Radio station in Toronto Ontario just mentioned your project/video here ....awesome job ...super cool.

[Sonicadventurep]

Nice job Erin! We're honoured that you've taken us to Space with you :) ... well, so to speak...

[virtualErin]

@Sonicadventurep Thank you! I really like the song. :D I'm glad you like what I did with it.

[brandigunn808]

Hey, our family loved this video! What a cool project. I love the footage...what a great way to communicate about it.

[CaoimhinZheng]

Omai.